Link Report for Thurs. 5/31 -- Farmclubs 0-for-4, but hey, the big boys swept LA!

[Tedaldtada]

Brevard edged by Cubs on walk-off homer

05/31/2012 10:59 PM ET

By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For the second straight night, the Brevard County Manatees dropped a tough one-run game to their rival the Daytona Cubs. Daytona's Ronald Torreyes hit a walk-off homer on the first pitch he saw to lead off the bottom of the ninth to top the 'Tees 7-6 on Thursday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

 

After a half hour rain delay, the Manatees (21-31) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Nick Shaw led the game off with a double then Reggie Keen and T.J. Mittelstaedt followed with back-to-back singles with Mittelstaedt's hit driving home Shaw.

 

Keen then scored on a Mike Walker ground out and Mittelstaedt would score on a RBI single by Shea Vucinich.

 

The Manatees and starting pitcher Andy Moye took that lead into the third inning, when the Cubs (20-31) struck for a six-run inning, with the big blow being a grand slam by Nelson Perez on the first pitch he saw from Moye.

 

Before the grand slam, Daytona scored a run on an Arismendy Alcantara single and after the grand slam, Rubi Silva drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Moye (1-0, 6.23) worked five innings and allowed six runs on seven hits. He struck out five and walked one in his second start as a Manatee.

 

Brevard County cut Daytona's lead to one run in the fifth. After hitting a two-out triple to center, Mittelstaedt scored on a Walker RBI single. Walker scored two batters later on a single by Cody Hawn.

 

The Manatees tied the game in the top of the eighth as Hawn hit a solo homer - his sixth of the season - to lead off the inning off of A.J. Morris. Following Hawn's home run, Brevard went down in order in the eighth and ninth.

 

Eric Arnett threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Moye and Brian Garman followed Arnett out of the bullpen. Garman threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings until his first and only pitch of the ninth which was taken by Torreyes over the left field fence.

 

Brevard County is now 8-13 in one-run games this season, which is the second-worst mark in the Florida State League.

 

Keen, Mittelstaedt, Walker and Hawn all had two hits each as they combined for eight of Brevard's ten hits. Walker, whose batting average was sitting at .207 at the end of April, hit .321 in the month of May to raise his season batting average 65 points.

 

After back-to-back one-run losses, the 'Tees will look to regroup as they will host the Bradenton Marauders (24-29) for a four-game series beginning on Friday night at 6:35 p.m.

 

Brevard County will send Brooks Hall (0-2, 5.04) to the mound on Friday. Hall allowed two earned run in five innings against Dunedin last Saturday.

 

The second overall pick of the 2010 draft, Jameson Taillon (Should be interesting.) (3-4, 3.29) will toe the rubber for the Marauders. Taillon has struggled on the road this season as he is 1-4 with a 4.80 ERA away from Bradenton.

 

Box Score

 

Kudos to Mike Walker (2-4) for closing out his red-hot May in style. All the Manatee hits were by the 1-6 hitters. Reggie Keen and T.J. Mittelstaedt each had a 3B. For Mittelstaedt, it was his 6th on the season. Cody Hawn (2-3 HR) finished off a .265/.330/.461 May and has 3 HR's since May 26th.

 

Walker did commit his 9th error. He committed his 8th just yesterday. Two more BC errors were charged to relief pitchers Eric Arnett and Brian Garman. It was Keen-ian game on the base paths for Reggie Keen. He was CS for the 9th time this season and he was picked off for the 73rd time.

 

Andy Moye pitched pretty dang well when you dig deeper. Whatever that 1st pitch was to Perez, Moye should never throw it again. The 5:1 K:BB is very nice. Arnett's ERA sits at 2.30 now.

 

Game Log

 

Hot start.

 

Brevard County Top of the 1st

 

Nick Shaw doubles (16) on a fly ball to right fielder Rubi Silva.

Reggie Keen singles on a bunt ground ball to catcher Chad Noble. Nick Shaw to 3rd.

T. J. Mittelstaedt singles on a line drive to right fielder Rubi Silva. Nick Shaw scores. Reggie Keen to 3rd. T. Mittelstaedt to 2nd on the throw.

Mike Walker grounds out, first baseman Richard Jones to pitcher Austin Kirk. Reggie Keen scores. T. Mittelstaedt to 3rd.

Shea Vucinich singles on a ground ball to left fielder Nelson Perez. T. J. Mittelstaedt scores.

Cody Hawn flies out to left fielder Nelson Perez.

With Parker Berberet batting, Shea Vucinich steals (7) 2nd base, . Shea Vucinich advances to 3rd, on throwing error by catcher Chad Noble.

Parker Berberet strikes out swinging.

 

Besides the 6-run inning, Andy Moye allowed only one base runner.

[Tedaldtada]

Sounds' Skid Hits Five With 4-1 Defeat

05/31/2012 10:38 PM ET

Nashville Sounds

 

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Nashville Sounds suffered their fifth consecutive defeat on Thursday evening, falling 4-1 to Oklahoma City at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

 

Nashville (20-33) has lost 10 of its 11 games against the RedHawks this season, including each of the last eight meetings between the teams.

 

The Sounds put runners on base in seven of the nine innings but were able to only plate one run on the night, finishing 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

 

Shortstop Jeff Bianchi continued his solid year with a 3-for-4 evening and is now hitting .345 in his 16 games with Nashville.

 

The teams exchanged runs during the first inning. Nashville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the frame when Logan Schafer opened the contest with a single and later scored on a Sean Halton groundout. The RedHawks evened the score at 1-1 in the home half when J.B. Shuck drew a leadoff walk and came plateward on Fernando Martinez's one-out triple to right.

 

Oklahoma City took a 4-1 lead with a three-run third against Sounds starter Mark Rogers. Scott Moore doubled with one out, moved to third on a groundout, and raced home to score the go-ahead run when Rogers uncorked a wild pitch. The Nashville right-hander then walked Mike Hessman before giving up a two-out, two-run homer to Brett Wallace. The RedHawks' third baseman's opposite-field shot was his ninth longball of the year and second in two nights against Sounds pitching.

 

RedHawks starter Wes Musick (1-1) twirled a quality start to earn his first victory of the year. The left-hander held the Sounds to one run on seven hits over six innings of work, striking out four batters.

 

Mickey Storey followed with two hitless innings of relief before Jose Valdez closed out the victory with a scoreless ninth to nail down his 11th save of the year.

 

Rogers (1-3) took the loss for the Sounds after giving up four runs on six hits in five frames, only the second time in nine starts in which he permitted more than three earned runs.

 

A pair of Sounds had nine-game hitting streaks snapped in the defeat. Second baseman Eric Farris went 0-for-4 and Jordan Brown struck out in his lone plate appearance after being a late-inning defensive replacement.

The teams wrap up the series with a 7:05 p.m. finale on Friday evening. Right-hander Wily Peralta (1-6, 6.52) will man the bump for the Sounds to face Oklahoma City right-hander Paul Clemens (5-4, 6.66).

 

Box Score

 

I am fully endorsing a Jeff Bianchi-Edwin Maysonet swap. Three singles tonight for Jeff. Bianchi was erased once when he was caught stealing and another time when he was picked off of 1st. Sean Halton went 2-4 and knocked in the Sounds only run with a GO in the 1st.

 

Mark Rogers 2011: 44.1 IP 46 ER 42 BB 40 K

Mark Rogers 2012: 38.1 IP 21 ER 24 BB 25 K

 

There are hints of progress there, but not really. I hope Mark sticks with the Brewers system next season. No one else knows him like us, and he has a very complex history. I will be watching Rogers closely in the 2nd half of the season.

 

Not much run scoring considering the wind was blowing out the left at 15 MPH.

 

Game Log

 

Pretty ridiculous. Should have been an easy inning.

 

Okla. City Bottom of the 3rd

 

J. B. Shuck bunt grounds out, third baseman Andy Gonzalez to first baseman Sean Halton.

Scott Moore doubles (19) on a soft line drive to center fielder Logan Schafer.

Fernando Martinez grounds out, first baseman Sean Halton to pitcher Mark Rogers. Scott Moore to 3rd.

With Mike Hessman batting, wild pitch by Mark Rogers, Scott Moore scores.

Mike Hessman walks.

Brett Wallace homers (9) on a fly ball to left center field. Mike Hessman scores.

Jimmy Paredes grounds out, second baseman Eric Farris to first baseman Sean Halton.

 

Gameday

[HiAndTight]

I'm glad to see Hawn and Dishon heating up. One with raw power and the other with raw tools

 

 

I'm interested in hearing where Arnett's velocity is at right now? Another sharp outing for him throwing 1.2 IP with 5/0 GO/FO and 1 K and just the one hit.

 

His felocity was 87-88 when he was struggling I thought and from what I heard the Brewers were really pushing hard to get him to throw his change.

 

But if his velocity is up to 94-95 and his slider is working, we could still salvage a very nice 7th inning guy out of him. That's nothing to scoff at. The more fringe pieces you can develop the more money you have to spend on your marquee guys...not that I'm telling anyone anything they don't know.

 

The same could go for Scarpetta and Heckathorn. Three guys who, if Arnett has seen his velo come back a bit, are guys with two pitches that can be dominant and two guys in Arnett and Heckathorn who are ground ball machines. I know it's not what we'd hoped for Arnett when we drafted him after he was projected to go around 15 and fell to us, but at this point just getting something out of him and Scarpetta is a big plus.

 

And I may be alone in this, but I don't see why Scarpetta can't develop into a SU man or even a closer. He throws 95 as a starter, you'd expect that to jump up a tick as a starter to maybe 96-97 and he has that hammer. If he can hone in that command he's certainly more than capable of becoming that shutdown closer.

 

And Heckathorn strikes me as a Todd Coffey type guy...

 

Thing is obviously we've got time for the other two, but Scarpetta really has to get it figured out pretty quickly. His arm is WAY too good to not be more dominant.

[DHonks]

Hiandtight, I'm with you on these guys. I could see Heckathorn developing into a Weathers/Loe type with a heavy sinker. I just don't know if he has that second pitch. We really haven't heard anything about him and his stuff since he was drafted.

 

As for Arnett, I've been wanting to hear reports on his stuff. We know he had the shoulder injury last year and his stuff has generally been far less than pre-draft.

 

With Scarpetta, I'd just like for him to climb on a mound this year. Do we even know what injury has been bothering him?

[Mass Haas]

Stars Two-Hit By Smokies in Loss

 

KODAK, Tenn- A night after cranking out 12 hits, the Huntsville Stars were limited to just two by a collection of Tennessee Smokies pitchers, losing game four of a five-game series by a score of 4-1 on Thursday Night at Smokies Park.

 

The game began as a pitchers duel between Stars RHP Kyle Heckathorn and Smokies LHP Eric Jokisch as both teams were only able to manage a run and a hit apiece through the first six innings of the game.

 

In the third inning, the Smokies got the scoring started with a solo homerun by right fielder Mike Burgess to take a 1-0 lead.

 

However, that lead would not last for long. In the fifth inning, Stars center fielder Josh Prince drew a walk with two outs and then stole his third base of the game. Shortstop Tommy Manzella broke Jokisch’s no-hit bid with an RBI single to score Prince and tie up the game at 1-1.

 

Following the departures of both starting pitchers and a 45-minute rain and lightning delay, the Smokies took control of the game.

 

With Stars reliever Darren Byrd in the game, the Smokies took the lead for good in the seventh inning. Tennessee center fielder Jim Adduci doubled to begin the inning. After advancing to third on a groundout, Adduci scored on a wild pitch from Byrd to put the Smokies up 2-1.

 

Tennessee put the icing on the cake in the eighth inning when Elliot Soto tripled to begin the frame. He scored on a RBI double by shortstop Junior Lake to give the Smokies an insurance run. Lake then scored on a sacrifice fly by left fielder Rebel Ridling to make the score 4-1.

 

Smokies reliever Brian Schlitter earned the win in relief, pitching 0.2 scoreless innings to improve to 1-2 on the year. Tennessee RHP Frank Batista notched his seventh save of the season by striking out the Stars in order in the ninth inning.

 

For Huntsville, Byrd fell to 0-2 on the year with the loss. As a team, the two hits were the fewest the Stars have had in a game this season.

 

With both teams splitting the first four games of the series, the deciding game of this set will begin on Friday as the Stars will send RHP Hiram Burgos (1-1, 5.16 ERA) to the mound to square off against RHP Trey McNutt (2-3, 2.67 ERA). First pitch is at 6:15 CT.

[Mass Haas]

Rattler Radio Blog: Nine after 9

 

Read, and you'll realize just how prevalent the 'shift' is within the organization's thought process, and getting their infielders used to playing it.

[igor67]

Quality middle relief isn't what you hope for obviously with a top half of the 1st round draft pick, but considering he was probably on pace to be the biggest draft bust in Brewers history that would be a victory in my book.

[Mass Haas]

Despite the 1-2-3 line, this is how close the Manatees came to threatening in the 9th:

 

Brevard County Top of the 9th

 

Defensive switch from third base to first base for Greg Rohan.

Defensive Substitution: Dustin Harrington replaces Taylor Davis, batting 7th, playing third base.

Pitcher Change: Jeffrey Lorick replaces A. Morris.

Nick Shaw lines out to third baseman Dustin Harrington.

Reggie Keen grounds out, first baseman Greg Rohan to pitcher Jeffrey Lorick.

T. J. Mittelstaedt pops out to third baseman Dustin Harrington in foul territory.

 

"After the Cubs' Taylor Davis pinch hit for 1B Richard Jones in the eighth, Dustin Harrington was inserted into the game in the top of the ninth to play third while Rohan moved to first. SS Nick Shaw led off the ninth for the Manatees and lined a ball down the third base line in fair territory, and with Harrington playing in on the infield grass, the third baseman made an absolutely unbelievable diving catch to his right to rob the speedy Shaw of at least a leadoff double in a 6-6 ballgame."

[Mass Haas]

VIDEO: Huntsville's Lee Haydel steals second base in the Stars' 6-4 Wednesday win over the Tennessee Smokies